How will GDPR regulation affect sales?

How will GDPR regulation affect sales?

GDPR and sales: how will new regulation affect you?

What is GDPR?

GDPR is the new General Data Protection Regulation. It’s an EU regulation that aims to strengthen and increase consistency in data protection for individuals within the EU. It also governs the export of personal data outside the EU.

The big change with the new regulation is that marketers need to get prior consent from someone before they can start marketing to them.

In order words, before you can send someone an email (even to their business email address) you need to get their permission.

Of course what matters most to you is how the new rules will affect your sales activity.

Anything that limits your Marketing team’s ability to source leads will directly affect you and your Sales team. And if you rely on email marketing to fill your pipeline with leads – the GDPR will have an impact.

When people have to opt in to receive your emails, the pool of people you communicate with naturally falls.

The good news is that – in theory – the people you’re left with are warmer leads. They’ve agreed to receive your mailings, so should be interested in your products and services. They’re likely to be far more responsive than a wider list of unqualified names.

And because telesales are exempt from the new rules (they will still work on an ‘opt-out’ basis), you can still call people who have, for example, filled in a form on your website, or replied to an email.

The bad news, of course, is that your list of leads is much smaller than you’ve been used to.

If you want a wider pool to draw from, you will have to work harder to build that pipeline of interested contacts. Luckily, there are lots of tips and advice on how to generate more interactions.